Obama’s immigration plans irk some fellow Democrats

In-fighting: President Barack Obama is contemplating scaling back deportations of illegal immigrants. And at the same time, The Wall Street Journal writes, he is courting a battle with a few members of his own party. Some conservative-state Democrats, all in tough election fights in this fall’s midterm elections, say Obama would inappropriately end-run Congress if he were to act on his own on deportations. One such Democrat, Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina, said: “This is an issue I believe should be addressed legislatively, and not through executive order.”

Honey, I shrunk the defense industry: Major defense contractors are shrinking big time, Politico reports. Politico analyzed employment figures filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and found the number of employees at the five largest U.S. defense firms has dropped 14% from a peak in 2008, and 10% over the past decade. And as the industry prepares for the future, the picture is far from rosy. There’s little momentum in Congress to undo the caps on discretionary federal spending, and U.S. officials are pledging to avoid sending combat troops to hot-spots overseas.

Door, revolving: The Hill writes that Washington’s lobbying firms are being inundated with phone calls and emails from Republican staffers looking to jump to the private sector if Republicans capture the Senate in November. As the odds grow for a Republican takeover of the Senate, high-ranking aides are checking in on their value at law and lobbying firms, where they could command salary offers of up to $500,000 a year.

We (heart) Obamacare: Democrats are slowly learning to love Obamacare. “There is a palpable comfort that didn’t exist as recently as six months ago,” former Clinton and Obama White House official Chris Jennings told National Journal. “I think we’re in transition, moving from a defense to an achievement strategy.” Democrats’ emerging confidence comes as the law is taking a smaller role in Republicans’ attack ads, National Journal says, with GOP candidates in a handful of states now incorporating Obamacare into a larger message about jobs and the economy. Before, the strategy was all Obamacare, all the time.

Picking up the tab: And speaking of Obamacare, House Republicans chose law firm BakerHostetler to represent them in their lawsuit against the president. The firm will get $500 an hour for “all reasonable attorney time” needed for the taxpayer-funded lawsuit, which centers on Obama’s use of executive action to delay the law’s employer mandate. The contract with the firm caps legal costs at $350,000.